Because the Secret Service must always accompany a President with a large number of personnel, many times rooms were booked, paid for, but sat empty in anticipation of travel that Trump did not end up making.
This nearly million-dollar figure does not include the cost of accommodations for White House staff, government appointees, and civil servants who must accompany the President any time he travels.
Further, the figure does not include the nearly $4 million in Trump earnings for the dozens of Republican Party events that were booked at the President's properties.
Considering that Trump has claimed in loan documents that he earns roughly a 50 percent profit on his resort and hotel properties, on a nearly $5 million billing, he will have personally pocketed nearly $2.5 million.
This figure is far greater than the amount Trump claims to have donated to the federal government to "refund" his salary, so he is still profiting off of his presidency.
(Of course, Trump has never provided any proof that he donates his salary, other than to show copies of uncashed checks made out to individual government agencies, instead of to the Treasury Department, where donations are actually made. And, of course, anyone can write a check for any amount, but without any proof that it was cashed, it's proof of nothing.)
The way Trump has been personally profiting from government business is a stark contrast to the promises he made when running for office and before he was sworn into office. While campaigning in 2016, he promised he'd never even visit his properties if elected.
"I may never see these places again," he promised at a campaign rally in August 2016. "Because I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to go play golf. Believe me."
After he was elected, his attorney said he "wants there to be no doubt in the minds of the American public that he is completely isolating himself from his business interests. He instructed us to take all steps realistically possible to make it clear that he is not exploiting the office of the presidency for his personal benefit."
That's curious. If he's isolating himself from his own business properties whilst President, why is he visiting them nearly three hundred times once in office?
When the Post pressed for details about how much Trump was pocketing from all this increased business, a White House spokesperson reacted with outrage (details here). "The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop." Why is a taxpayer-funded spokesperson writing on behalf of Trump's business?
That aside, this excuse is so lame it needs a wheelchair. Of course, Trump would try to bill taxpayers for that wheelchair.
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